Ukraine has not had confirmed cases of COVID-19, or coronavirus, yet. But as the disease rapidly spreads across Europe, already hitting neighbors Russia, Belarus and Romania, officials have tightened sanitary control at borders and are preparing hospitals and doctors for the outbreak.
The government already faced criticism over poor handling of the evacuation of Ukrainians from Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in China, which resulted in mass protests fueled by disinformation.
Now the government is arranging its response to the epidemic while preparing to launch broad medical reforms that will reorganize the country’s hospital network.
“We are ready to brace for the coronavirus. At the same time, we are doing everything to prevent it from getting into the country,” deputy health minister Viktor Lyashko said on Feb. 28.
Lyashko is in charge of the government’s response to the coronavirus while his boss, Health Minister Zoryana Skaletska, is in quarantine with several dozen Ukrainians and foreigners evacuated from Wuhan on Feb. 20. She volunteered to join the evacuees for their 14-day isolation in response to the panic that overtook the town of Novi Sanzhary, where the evacuees were placed. Local residents feared they could be infected with the deadly virus, although none of the evacuees showed symptoms of illness.
After the protests in Novi Sanzhary, the government is trying to communicate its readiness to combat the disease.
All incoming travelers now undergo temperature checks at airports and land border crossing points. Officials have advised citizens against traveling to the European Union and recommend self-isolation to those who recently visited countries affected by the virus.
Hospitals were also advised to consider postponing scheduled surgeries to make room for outbreak preparations, Lyashko said.
Every oblast of Ukraine has chosen two hospitals to admit suspected coronavirus patients. Hospitals across Ukraine are ready to admit and isolate 2,500 coronavirus patients, Lyashko said, but any hospital or clinic can be repurposed if need be. In Kyiv, seven infectious disease wards have been assigned to take confirmed patients, Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said.
Specialists from the World Health Organization have begun training Ukrainian medical emergency personnel and epidemiologists in risk assessment algorithms, biological sampling, and diagnostics.
In March, the Center for Public Health plans to receive quick coronavirus testing systems that can be used for preliminary detection before lab results, Lyashko said.
Ukrainians and foreigners evacuated from Wuhan, as well as doctors and flight crew who accompanied them, have been in quarantine for over a week now. None of them have shown symptoms of the disease, and if that remains the case they will be released from quarantine in early March.
Although there have been no reported cases of the virus in Ukraine, five Ukrainians abroad have tested positive for the disease: four crew members of the Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in a Japanese port and one woman in Italy, where the number of infected surged above 650 with 17 deaths.
One of the five infected Ukrainians, a woman on the cruise ship in Japan, reportedly recovered from the disease on Feb. 28 and was discharged from the hospital, according to Ukraine’s foreign ministry.
Italy, which has been hit the hardest among the European countries, is one of the top destinations for Ukrainian workers. The coronavirus has also reached Ukraine’s neighbors: with the first case of the virus confirmed in Belarus as well as two in Russia and three in Romania.
The total number of cases globally is approaching 84,000, with 2,869 deaths. The World Health Organization says that the virus is now spreading faster outside of China.
